Unprotected battlefield land all across America has never been more threatened, it has never been more expensive, and the competition to buy it has never been more intense. We need your help today!
Already this year, we have tremendous opportunities that simply cannot wait: four tracts of land available for purchase totaling 311 acres with a $13-to-$1 matching gift opportunity. We need to raise $206,207 to secure the land, and we need to do it within the next two months.
Three of the four tracts will be “first acre” purchases, meaning that neither the Trust nor any other organization has had an opportunity to save hallowed ground on these sites… until now.
We invite you to support the land preservation where four Civil War generals honed their battlefield experience… suffering victories and losses… returning to battle again and again… and securing their place in Civil War history.
Ulysses S. Grant and the Battle of Belmont (1861)
With just a little more than one acre available for purchase, it will be the first preservation acre saved where the Battle of Belmont was fought. It’s here in Belmont, Missouri, that General Grant got the combat and large-unit command experience that he would use later in the war.
William T. Sherman and the Battle of Chickasaw Bayou (1862)
In the opening engagement of the Vicksburg Campaign, General Sherman disembarked his soldiers at Johnson’s Plantation to oppose Confederate forces. In the Battle of Chickasaw Bayou, General Sherman launched repeated attempts to outflank Confederate defenses, only to suffer eight times the losses of the Confederates and fail at the Union’s first attempt to capture Vicksburg.
We are hoping to save three acres in Mississippi where the battle was fought—the first preservation effort on this property.
John Hunt Morgan and the Battle of Buffington Island (1863)
At the site of one of only two Civil War battles fought in Ohio, we hope to secure a 17-acre tract threatened by large-scale residential development near the battlefield and adjacent state memorial park. Here, Confederate General Morgan hoped to retreat from Ohio but was outgunned by 3,000 Union artillery, infantry, and cavalry, accompanied by U.S. Navy gunboats.
Securing this property for preservation will be a first, and we hope to acquire the land and transfer it to the Buffington Island Battlefield Preservation Foundation.
J.E.B. Stuart and the Battle of Upperville (1863)
The last parcel of land—191 acres of nearly pristine land very much like it was in 1983—was where the Battle of Upperville was fought. This broad open land was ideal for close-action cavalry fighting between Confederal General Stuart and Union General Pleasonton.
We have the opportunity to save four tracts of sacred ground on four separate battlefields—three of them “first acres” in the preservation battle with developers. Valued at $2,694,207, we can secure this land for just $206,207 — but only with your help!
Will you answer the call to protect and preserve 311 acres of hallowed ground—irreplaceable lands that breathed life into the legends of four great generals?
Til the battle is won,
David N. Duncan
President, American Battlefield Trust
P.S. Your gift today will be worth 13 times its value thanks to the generosity of landowners, our partners, and special friends of the Trust. Help us preserve these 311 acres before it’s too late. Donate today!